Monday, 24 December 2012

Bollywood Actress Deepika

Deepika Padukone Biography:
Deepika Padukone (born 5 January 1986) is an Indian actress and model. She appears mostly in Hindi films, as well as Tamil and Kannada language films. Born to badminton player Prakash Padukone, she chose to become an actress.
In 2006, Padukone made her acting debut through the Kannada film Aishwarya. The following year, she made her Hindi film debut in Om Shanti Om, for which she earned the Filmfare Best Female Debut Award. It remains her biggest commercial success. She subsequently appeared in Love Aaj Kal (2009) and Housefull (2010). While the former earned her a Filmfare nomination in the Best Actress category, the latter emerged as a commercial success. Soon after, Padukone featured in Homi Adajania's commercially successful dramedy, Cocktail (2012) and earned unanimous critical appreciation for her performance.
In addition to acting, Padukone is also the ambassador of prominent brands such as Tissot, Sony Cybershot, Yamaha, Nescafe and Kingfisher Airlines.

Early life and background
Padukone was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. Her father, Prakash Padukone, is a former badminton player of international repute, and her mother is a travel agent. Her father was then training in Denmark in the sport and when she was eleven months old her family moved to Bangalore, Karnataka, India. Padukone has a younger sister, Anisha, born on 2 February 1991.
Padukone attended Sophia High School in Bangalore, and completed her pre-university studies at Mount Carmel College Bangalore.While in high school she played badminton at the state level.However, she was not keen on pursuing a career as a badminton player. During the time of her film debut she was enrolled with the Indira Gandhi National Open University in Bachelors of Arts (Sociology).
Career

Early modeling career, until 2006
While in college, Padukone pursued a career in modeling. She was spotted in a ramp competition in NLS, Bangalore.[citation needed] Over the years, she has modeled for such Indian brands as Liril, Dabur Lal powder, Close-Up toothpaste and Limca, and has been "brand ambassador" for the Jewels of India retail jewelry show. The cosmetics company Maybelline made her its international spokesperson.
At the fifth annual Kingfisher Fashion Awards she was awarded the title "Model of the Year". Shortly afterward, she was chosen as one of the models for the Kingfisher Swimsuit Calendar for 2006 and won two trophies at the Idea Zee Fashion Awards: "Female Model of the Year (Commercial Assignments)" and "Fresh Face of the Year". Padukone was also chosen as the brand ambassador of Levi Strauss. In addition, she appeared in the music video for Himesh Reshammiya's song "Naam Hai Tera".
Debut and film breakthrough, 2006-09
Padukone made her cinematic debut in Kannada with Aishwarya opposite Kannada Superstar Upendra in 2006. The film was a Candyfloss Romantic Comedy and was a commercial success. She later made a successful Bollywood debut in 2007 with Farah Khan's blockbuster Om Shanti Om opposite Shahrukh Khan. The film was a re-incarnation melodrama, featuring her in a double role. Her performance was well received, earning the actress a Filmfare Best Female Debut Award as well as her first Filmfare Best Actress nomination. Taran Adarsh from indiaFM noted, "Deepika has all it takes to be a top star — the personality, the looks and yes, she's supremely talented too. Standing in the same frame as SRK and getting it right is no small achievement. She comes as a whiff of fresh air!" About being cast opposite Shah Rukh Khan, she said,
"When Farah was casting for Happy New Year, she saw my commercials on TV and called my agent. I met her when she was rehearsing at a dance hall in Juhu. When that film didn’t happen, she offered me OSO. Farah took care of me right from the first meeting, introducing me to Shah Rukh Khan and ensuring that I was comfortable with him. Six months prior to shooting, we frequently met up for lunches and dinners."
Padukone was then seen playing a feisty, modern-day Indian woman, Gayatri, in Siddharth Anand's romantic comedy Bachna Ae Haseeno alongside Ranbir Kapoor, Bipasha Basu and Minissha Lamba. The film, which released on 15 August 2008, performed reasonably well at the box office, but her performance drew flak. Adarsh wrote, "Deepika is a sore point. Her role isn't convincing and that's the reason why this performance doesn't work. The only consolation is, she looks gorgeous."
She played a double role again in Chandni Chowk To China, which released on 16 January 2009. The film, directed by Nikhil Advani, featured Akshay Kumar, Mithun Chakraborty and Ranvir Shorey in the lead. It was a critical and commercial disaster, with Nikhat Kazmi of The Times Of India commenting, "Deepika looks lost and forlorn for most of the film."
Padukone's fourth release Love Aaj Kal, released on 31 July 2009, proved to be one of the biggest hits of 2009. Directed by Imtiaz Ali, the film documented the changing value of relationships among the youth. Padukone played the role of Meera Pandit, a practical and head-strong career woman opposite Saif Ali Khan. Of her performance, NDTV's Anupama Chopra wrote, "Deepika looks fabulous but she isn’t a strong enough actor to breathe life into the character."Despite this, she received her second Filmfare Award for Best Actress nomination.

The same year, she teamed up with Farah Khan and Shah Rukh Khan once again for an item number in the Irrfan Khan-Lara Dutta starrer Billu. She made guest appearances in the Telegu film Love 4 Ever and in Sohail Khan's Main Aur Mrs Khanna.

Initial success, 2010-present
Her first release in 2010 was Excel Entertainment’s Karthik Calling Karthik. The thriller featured Farhan Akhtar as Karthik, a troubled schizophrenic man, and Padukone as his supportive girlfriend, Shonali Mukherjee. This time, Anupama Chopra wrote, "Padukone finally seems to be thawing in front of a camera."However, it was a commercial failure. She then featured in Sajid Khan's multistarrer Housefull with Akshay Kumar, Ritesh Deshmukh, Lara Dutta, Arjun Rampal, Jiah Khan and Boman Irani. She played the role of Soundarya Bhagyalakshmi Venkateshwari Baassappa Rao, Kumar's girlfriend and later fiancée. The film became a blockbuster in India, with a net gross of INR 95 crores in the first week. As for her performance, Taran Adarsh mentioned that "Deepika is a surprise. She carries her part with amazing confidence...Housefull is the film that would make people notice her talent as well as beauty".
She then appeared in her second Yash Raj production, Lafangey Parindey which was directed by Pradeep Sarkar. She starred opposite Neil Nitin Mukesh as Pinky Palkar, a blind girl, hellbent on winning a skating competition. Upon release, Sudhish Kamath, of The Hindu wrote, "This really is Deepika Padukone's film though. She exercises considerable restraint, dances, skates, makes you cry and smile."

Her next release was Kunal Kohli's syrupy romance Break Ke Baad opposite Imran Khan, where she played Aaliya Khan, an impetuous brat. The film was not a commercial success but won Padukone favorable reviews. Nikhat Kazmi noted, "Padukone's climactic act seems to be the best performance in her entire career: completely spontaneous, crazy and cute."
Her final release of 2010; Ashutosh Gowarikar's Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey top-lining Abhishek Bachchan, met with scathing reviews and was declared a flop. The period drama was a retelling of the 1930 Chittagong armoury raid, with Bachchan playing the revolutionary leader Surya Sen and Padukone playing Kalpana Dutta, his lover and confidant. A review carried by The Hollywood Reporter, however, mentioned her portrayal of Dutta as "impressive".
She began the year 2011 with an item number in Rohan Sippy's Dum Maaro Dum starring Abhishek Bachchan and Bipasha Basu. Her song was a remixed version of Zeenat Aman's iconic song from Hare Rama Hare Krishna. The raunchy lyrics and suggestive dancing received mixed reviews. The Deccan Chronicle mentioned her moves as "mechanised gyrations", while Adarsh wrote, "Deepika scorches the screen in the title track."
Next, she featured in Prakash Jha's reservation melodrama, Aarakshan starring alongside Amitabh Bachchan, as his daughter, and Saif Ali Khan, as his love-interest. Pratim D. Gupta noted, "Deepika, though, is again the refreshing thing about a movie. Both her scenes with Bachchan — one where she revolts and the other where she redeems herself — show how she has come of age as an actor." Padukone next appeared in Rohit Dhawan's Desi Boyz alongside Akshay Kumar, John Abraham and Chitrangada Singh. The film received mixed reviews from critics and was an average success at the box office.
In 2012, Padukone first appeared in Homi Adajania's Cocktail opposite Saif Ali Khan and Diana Penty. The film gyrated Padukone with accolades and praises. Anupama Chopra of Hindustan Times wrote, "The big surprise here is Deepika, who moves beyond her usual statuesque mannequin pose and gets into the skin of the emotionally raw and needy poor little rich girl. This is easily her best performance to date." Devesh Sharma of Filmfare said, "Deepika looks ravishing and is one actress who can carry off a bikini. She’s the soul of the film and excels in every scene, whether as a material girl who enjoys sex, drugs and rock and roll or as the jealousy ridden girl out to destroy herself. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama noted, "The scene stealer is, without doubt, Deepika, who not only looks sizzling hot, but pitches in her career-best performance. She lets herself loose, surrenders to her character wholly and nails the performance. It's an incredibly noticeable act. It wouldn't be erroneous to state that Cocktail would do for Deepika what Jab We Met did for Kareena." Also, the film was a major commercial success in not only the Indian box office,but also the overseas box office.
Padukone will be next seen in Race 2 alongside Saif Ali Khan, Anil Kapoor, John Abraham, Jacqueline Fernandez and Ameesha Patel. Following this, Padukone is all set to make her Kollywood debut in Soundarya Rajnikanth's Kochadaiyaan opposite Rajnikanth. She is currently filming for Ayan Mukerji's Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani opposite ex-boyfriend Ranbir Kapoor,Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Ram Leela opposite Ranveer Singh. and Rohit Shetty's action romance film Chennai Express alongside Shahrukh Khan. Furthermore, it has been reported that Padukone has signed a film opposite Emraan Hashmi under the production of Karan Johar and Ekta Kapoor, however, there has been no official confirmation regarding this.

Philanthropy
As part of NDTV's Greenathon Campaign, Padukone adopted Ambegaon, a village in Maharashtra, that was facing a major electricity crisis.
In the media
In 2009, Padukone started writing weekly columns for HT City, the lifestyle supplement of Hindustan Times. These columns appear online on social network, Desimartini.
She appeared on the cover of lifestyle magazine Vogue on May 2010 and 2011. She also walked the red carpet at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
On November 2010, she appeared on Koffee With Karan, a popular chat show along with Sonam Kapoor. Her comments on ex-flame Ranbir Kapoor lead to a lot of controversy among Bollywood inner-circles.
Personal life

In March 2008, Padukone began dating Ranbir Kapoor, her co-star from Bachna Ae Haseeno. After her high profile break up with Kapoor in November 2009, Padukone has decided to keep her personal life away from media attention.
In 2010 she started dating Kingfisher head honcho Vijay Mallya's son Siddharth Mallya. They broke up in 2012.
Awards and nominations

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Deepika Padukone
Filmography